“Låt romanen komma in – Transformativt lärande i gymnasieskolans litteraturundervisning“ är en litteraturdidaktisk studie i forskningsämnet pedagogik som tar syftestexten för litteraturundervisningen i det gymnasiala svenskämnet som utgångspunkt. Genom en förstudie där elva svensklärare och en skolbibliotekarie samtalar i fokusgrupper riktas projektet mot sitt huvudfokus som är en läsloggsintervention där 31 elever i gymnasiekursen Svenska 3 läser John Ajvide Lindqvists “Låt den rätte komma in” (Ordfront, 2004/2015). Med hjälp av begrepp från läsforskning (Rita Felski, “Uses of Literature”, Blackwell Publishing, 2008) och erfarenheter från förstudien för eleverna logg över sin läsning. Resultatet av läsloggsinterventionen visar att elevernas metareflektion hjälps framåt av begreppsanvändningen och att eleverna därmed tar steget in i en transformativ lärandeprocess. Licentiatavhandlingen innehåller en analys av den didaktiska potentialen för transformativt lärande med fokus på fokalisation och främmandegöring i Ajvide Lindqvists roman samt en praktisk modell för hur begreppsorienterad litteraturundervisning med läslogg på gymnasiet kan utformas.

The function of reading fictional texts in Swedish secondary school education has been questioned in public debate (e.g. Melin, 2016-07-17), even though the reading of fictional texts has been shown to be important to young people’s academic achievement (Jerrim & Moss, 2019). Swedish policy documents clearly state that upper secondary teaching of literature in the subject of Swedish is aimed at increasing the pupils’ self-awareness and their comprehension of experiences and perceptions of others (The Swedish National Agency of Education, 2011). However, results from a large-scale reading project show that Swedish teenagers find it difficult to reflect upon their own roles as readers of fictional texts (Nordberg, 2018). Therefore, this licentiate thesis targets upper secondary reading of fictional texts, and the possibility of using literary terminology pedagogically to visualize and develop pupils’ transformative learning processes. The overall research question posed is:

- How can applied literary terminology be used in upper secondary literary studies todevelop pupils’ transformative learning processes?

A pilot study was conducted based on three focus group-sessions with teachers and the librarian at an upper secondary school. The main study was based on reading journals written by pupils reading John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel Låt den rätte komma in (2004) [Let the Right One In, 2008] as part of the Swedish 3 course. The methodological framework is inspired by participatory research. Consequently, this research-project uses an inclusive approach to the participants – 11 Swedish teachers, 1 librarian and 31 pupils – which means that they are considered as subjects rather than objects of knowledge. My own role in this project is tripartite: as a colleague, a teacher, and researcher. The pilot study was conducted in order to find out which possibilities and obstacles arose when the staff participants worked on teaching literature. The main study, within which the pupils are included as participants, focuses on advancing meta-perspectives of their own reading and made use of results from the pilot study and concepts derived from Felski’s (2008) ‘modes of textual engagement’.

The pilot study revealed tensions which obstruct the teaching of literature, including the teacher-experienced importance of pupils ‘stepping into’ stories, as opposed to a great many pupils’ reluctance both towards the text and the act of reading. Moreover, the tension between engaged reading and the heavy emphasis placed on assessable outcomes of teaching and learning was addressed by the teachers. The main study revealed that reluctance is an inherent part of reading fictional texts. Further, that the pedagogical application of concepts used in literary studies can support the reading process, make it move forward, encourage the adoption of meta-perspectives on reading and on the pupils themselves as readers, as well as supporting a cohesive view of the finalized text.

In summary, the findings suggest that applying literary concepts in literary studies supports pupils towards advancing their transformative learning and potentially points to a new way of making the goals section of the policy documents tangible for teaching and learning practices. According to this study, transformative learning-goals can be achieved if critical perspectives are preceded by individual engagement with the reading of the text. The suggested concept of transformative potential is beneficial to an analysis of the pedagogical function of a certain fictional text used in a certain learning situation geared towards transformative learning. This finding stands in contrast to trends of using reading as a means of writing practice or imaging historical epochs.

I Björn Bradlings artikel ”’Jag skulle vilja att nånting hände’– ett lärararbetslag om tio minuters läsning varje lektion” utforskas lärares röster, i det här fallet om erfarenheter från ett läsfrämjande projekt. Bradling har genom fokusgruppsamtal som del av participatory research utvärderat projektet på nära håll. Genom att i samtalen tillsammans återvända till projektet ges lärarna möjlighet att delvis distansera sig för att tydligare se möjligheter och dilemman. Den intressanta frågan om syftet med läsningen diskuteras, och åsikter om läslust och läsnytta lyfts fram tillsammans med de fördelar som lärarna ser med projektet. Även i denna artikel lyfts frågan om elevers engagemang för läsning fram, här som en av de utmaningar som lärarna identifierar i sina strävanden efter transformativa tecken.

This study sets out to challenge politically motivated reinforced insideness of Swedish upper secondary L1 literature education. It does so by highlighting transformative aims presented in the curriculum and introducing transnational literature to L1 students. Theoretically categories of insideness (Relph, 2016) and the pedagogical idea of transformative learning (Mezirow, 1994; 2003; 2006) are used to analyse the material, which consists of 28 student reflections on transformative phrasing used in the curriculum and on two transnational short stories. Methodologically the study is based on participatory research which is concretised through a focus group interview with school librarians. The interview was part of  preparing for the intervention in the students’ L1 classroom. The material was thematically analysed (see Braun & Clarke, 2006; 2019) using the categories of vicarious, empathetic, and existential insideness (Relph, 2016).

The results show how students’ insideness is revealed and challenged by the use of transnational literature. Literature which challenge the students’ expectations and frames of reference can add to a more multiperspectivist understanding of the world. However, for this transformation to occur it is necessary for the reader to recognize aspects of oneself in the literary work. Moreover, scaffolding teaching practices including subject-specific language, such as the conceptual apparatus of cultural insideness, are crucial to support transnational reading as a transformative learning practice. L1 literature education can become a window to the world, but only if it includes aspects of recognition. To know a there you have to know a here and vice versa.

This study investigates how Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North (2006) can be read and taught as an example of world literature in accordance with the transformative and culturally empowering ambitions of the Swedish upper secondary school curriculum.A total of18 third-yearstudents inthe upper secondary science programme read the novel and recorded their reading experiences in journals. These journals have been thematically analysed,and the results show that the students’ processes of deconstructingand reconstructing the finalised reading,using literary concepts,help forward estrangement effects, which produce critical readings. As the students read for the plot and closedin on the end, their text-centred understandings of the novel wereheightened, and by actively using subject-specific terminology (i.e. stylistic devices and modes of reading concepts),they strengthened the sense-making of their relations to the world as mediated through the text. Frames of reference about historical andcurrent Sudan support the students in allowing the novel to become a merging point, at which their cultural horizons are nuanced through the juxtaposing of different perspectives. The students’ meta-reflexive readings allow for experiencing culture on the move as part of their transformative learning.